After months of baseless speculation in both the fan and professional media, an official announcement from New Line Cinema confirms that Sir Peter Jackson will direct a two-part film adaptation of The Hobbit, to begin principal photography this February.

There are two locations that appear in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that play central roles in both stories, and that can themselves be described fairly as “characters.” One of them is Rivendell, the sanctuary and fortress of Elrond Halfelven.

The other is the Shire, the homeland of that prosperous and agrarian race, the Hobbits…

If you think it strange to devote an entire article to someone as small and insignificant in the Legendarium as Samwise Gamgee, then you have bought into Sam’s own view of himself, as nothing but a simple gardener from The Shire.

But many have suggested that Sam, rather than Aragorn or Frodo, is the main hero of The Lord of the Rings; and this view was promulgated by no less an authority than JRR Tolkien himself…

Fëanor is one of the greatest characters of The Silmarillion; although Beren Erchamion, Lúthien Tinúviel and Túrin Turambar are more traditional heroes, it’s Fëanor’s choices for both good and evil that create the conflicts that drive the bulk of the story.

The story of Fëanor (told here as briefly as possible) begins as the story of the earliest Elves…

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